MAY 2023 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Whitefish Pilot, April 20, 1911 A THRIVING CAMP ROCHESTER IS ENJOYING AN UNPRECENDENTED ERA OF PROSPERITY Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov From The Madisonian, June 4, 1903: 300 Miners are Employed. District was discovered in 1865, but attracted little attention until recent years– Now one of the greatest camps of the Northwest. The Anaconda Standard, in its Sunday Edition, published a very interesting and truthful account of Rochester, a mining camp on the northern border of Madison county. It is as follows: The Rochester gold mining district was discovered in 1865. It was then a dry placer camp, the gold being coarse and evidently washed from the goldbearing ledges of the surrounding mountains. In those early days many a prospector grub-staked himself when hard-up from the placers, the total production being about $100,000. In 1868 gold bearing quartz was discovered and two ten-stamp mills of a crude pattern were erected by Messrs. Woodruff, Hendry, and Vaughn, who for several years worked the surface ores from the Watseka ledge which was leased in sections to the miners of that region. It was in 1870 that F. R. Merk visited the district, purchased the Watseka and patented the property. Much of the surface ores assayed $200 to $300 per ton, but all was not sayed. Then ensued a long period of dullness and the camp was practically abandoned. In 1891, Dave Bricker of Butte bonded the property, but lacking capital to sink, he quit and was succeeded by the Colorado company of Butte, represented by C.W. Goodale, who made a favorable report on the mine and did some sinking until driven out by the water, though he strongly urged continuance of work and final Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz purchase. It was then that A.W. McCune, of Salt Lake, a man of large means, as well as sound judgement, took hold of the enterprise, and under his ownership, and the management of Carl Hand it was developed into one of the greatest gold properties of the northwest. Other mines in the district have been bought up within the past five years and now half a dozen deep shafts are being sunk with splendid results, largely by Butte and eastern capital, employing altogether 300 men. The town of Rochester is booming as a result. The district embraces three great vein systems, running in the same direction, northerly and southerly. The west system shows a great surface development of low grade copper ore, not yet well explored; the east shows chiefly silver and gold, while the central zone, which runs midway between and along the “hog back,” shows surface croppings of nearly 8,000 feet. One-half of this is embraced within the three claims of the Watseka and the other within those of the Elgin group, owned by T.M. Hodgens et al, while to the south are the claims of James A. Murray, the Butte Banker. The croppings are very prominent, and the oxidized ores below, so far as prospected, are of high grade. This great ledge dips west and cuts the formation, which is of gneiss, like a knife through cheese. The Watseka has two shafts, the Goodale, which is an incline 550 feet deep and the Watseka, which has a vertical depth of 571 feet. The latter is connected on the 200, 300 and 450-foot levels, where the rich ore shoots exposed in the upper workings are found intact as to size, richness and regularity. Of these shoots, the first is 300 feet long, showing 2 1/2 feet of ore, assaying from $20 to $50; the second is 300 feet long, showing three feet of $25 to $60 ore; the third is 200 feet long and 3 feet wide, the values ranging from $30 to $100. The fourth shoot, which is just “coming in,” shows two feet of $30 to $75 ore for a length of 100 feet. Each of these shoots in places produces ore assaying from $500 to $600, which greatly helps the mill samples. On the 300 foot level the same shoots above now reappear, and in addition there are two new shoots each 200 feet long on the north end of the ground, one on the Watseka vein proper and one on the Cleopatra, which has also been recently opened on the 200. The ore mills from $20 to $200, with an average of $40. Beyond doubt both new shoots will lengthen on the 450 level when it shall be opened. The Cleopatra vein has added immensely to the value of the property, being of unexpected strength Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 3 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r and richness. The 450-foot level is 1,800 feet long. It has already penetrated three of the shoots described and is approaching another shoot at both the north and south ends. The ore at this depth has the same characteristics, except that it has changed to base without change in value and the ore bodies are wider, the width being doubled in places. Drifting north and south continues with assured results. The shaft now has a vertical depth of 571 feet, having crossed the ledge and now being on the hanging wall side. A crosscut to the east is now being extended through the vein, giving additional backs of 200 feet below the 450-foot level. Superintendent Hand is confident that the ore bodies will be found greatly strengthened by the union with the Cleopatra vein, which shows so strong and rich above. The future of the property is beyond the pale of doubt, and the same is true of the district. The sulphide ores are easily concentrated three into one, an unusual percentage of values being recovered. The concentrates carry enough fluxes to make them very desirable for smelting at low rates. A gratifying feature of the ore is the uniformity of value from top to bottom and the steady increase in the richness and the width of the ore bodies. It is a great mine even now. The water bugaboo has been exorcised. The flow is now about 800 gallons per minute, while the pumpage capacity Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz is 1,500 gallons. There is no increase in the flow of water with depth so far as explored and it does not reservoir as in the upper levels. The number of shoots seems to be increasing with depth, while the Cleopatra and Alameda ledge are important feeders, promising increased productiveness. In bullion and crude ores the Watseka has produced under the ownership of Mr. McCune upward of $1,000,000 in the course of development, while the output of oxidized ore under various leases and prospectors of the early days is estimated at $750,000. The daily product will keep both mills supplied. The new mill which started last week is a substantial structure designed by L.F. Sicka of the Amalgamated company and built by Julian Smith of Butte. It is 100 by 135 feet in dimensions and cost $65,000. It is fitted with a Blake crusher, four sets of Gates rollers, two six-foot Huntington mills, 14 Wilfley tables, and an original device for sacking concentrates invented by Mr. Hand. The power is supplied by a Corliss engine 18 x36, having 150 horsepower. The daily capacity of the mill is 150 tons, while that of the old mill, with seven Wilfley tables and six cyanide tanks, is 50 tons daily. The latter will do some custom work. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Photo Courtesy of the Thomas B. Brook Collection, https://arc.lib.montana.edu/brook-0771/item/709 The Elgin mine, owned by T.M. Hodgens of Butte and others, embraces a 4,500 foot section of the Watseka ledge. It has produced high grade ore from a strong vein. The shaft is 400 feet deep, but the water temporarily stopped operations. Larger pumps will at once be supplied and development will continue. The Longfellow lies south and east of the mother ledge and has been a good producer. The shaft has a depth of 300 feet. The Company mine is east of the Longfellow and has a good record. It is owned by W.R Kenyon et al and is now under bond for a large sum to eastern capitalists. The sale is reported a “go.” East of the Elgin is a very rich property, the Buffalo, owned by Edward Mueller, formerly of the Boston & Montana. It needs capital and would pay regular dividends from a fine body of gold bearing ore now in sight. The Rochester Mining Company of which E.M. Hand is superintendent and part owner, is a Boston corporation owning two claims; on one a shaft is sunk 200 feet, with north and south drifts aggregating 275 feet in length. A two-foot shoot of $50 to $80 ore has been opened which at one end is within 30 feet of the Watseka ground. Sinking on the main shaft continues, the intention being to explore the ledge 300 feet deep. Eighteen men are employed. Little is known of the Rochester district on the outside because the mine owners are operating on private account, but the future of the district beyond is very bright. The town contains about 1,000 souls, a good hotel and the usual complement of business houses. The place is growing rapidly and confidence in the future is unbounded. Outside of Butte no mining camp in the state is developing with such certainty of long continued success. McCune’s luck, pluck and enterprise will keep the old camp to the forefront. Much Butte capital is also invested there and that always means success. -Accessed via: www.montananewspapers.org Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r THE TAR SHACK In the later years of the homestead movement, when more goods were available via rail, many homestead shacks were built of milled 2 X 4's covered with tar paper. Heavy paper often covered the interior walls to keep out drafts. Interior furnishings were minimal. A small stove provided for heat and cooking, with an attachment in the chimney that could be used to bake bread. A few chairs, a fold-down bed, and a table rounded out the necessities. For those who hoped to prove-up and move on, these structures sufficed. For those destined to stay, a gable-roof story and half structure might be added as soon as funds allowed. This display can be seen at The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Photos by Jolene EwertHintz MOOSE CREEK RANGER STATION The Moose Creek Ranger Station in the Ten Mile drainage west of Helena was constructed early in the 20th Century. Evidence from old maps and records, and a pencil date exposed on a wall during restoration work, indicate that the ranger station was built in 1908. Agency correspondence indicates that the station was fully operating by 1910. Walter Derrick was the ranger in 1911 but by 1919 he had been replaced by D.H. Lewis, who kept this job until 1928 or 1929 when the Moose Creek and McClellan Ranger districts were combined. During the 1930s, Ranger Bert Goodman was in charge of the facility. The building is very similar to other early Forest Service-built ranger and guard stations in Region 1, such as the Burnt Hollow RS on the neighboring Deer Lodge NF. The building was intended to be both economic and functional, with office, kitchen, sleeping and storage space. Site plans dated to 1921 shows a barn and tool shed on the north side of Moose Creek, but nothing except a grassy meadow is found there today. Moose Creek functioned as a guard station and, in the 1930s, served as the access point to a lookout atop Colorado Mountain (which was removed by the Forest Service in the 1960s). Today, the site is comprised of the old ranger station, root cellar and garage. The Moose Creek RS played a role in the CCC-operated Camp Rimini, located directly across the road in what is now Moose Creek Campground. Camp Rimini (or Camp A-76) was opened on June 11, 1939, durPhoto by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r ing the waning years of the Great Depression. The camp housed from 137-200 young men. They performed a variety of work on the Helena NF, including campground improvements, road maintenance and fire hazard reduction. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz World War II soon led to the closure of Camp Rimini in 1942. It was quickly transformed into an army dog-training facility—or War Dog Reception and Training Center. It accommodated some 235 military personnel and 700-900 dogs of various breeds. The dogs were to be used for the proposed Allied invasion of Nazi Europe through Norway. When these plans were abandoned for an alternative plan to invade through northern France (Normandy), the camp refocused on training dogs and men for Artic Search and Rescue units. Forest Service personnel stationed or working out of Moose Creek RS also indirectly helped in the management of this facility (i.e., laying out dog sledding trails, rescue of lost men, bear control). The Camp Rimini dog training facility was closed in March of 1944. The Forest Service held a public sale of many of the portable buildings at Camp Rimini. Because ranger district headquarters had been moved to Helena, the old Moose Creek RS was also sold. The building complex (cabin, garage and cellar) had a succession of private owners (who used the cabin under a Special Use Permit Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz authorization) until 1998, when the cabin came back into FS ownership. In 2001, the Helena National Forest began restoring the old ranger station for use as summer educational facility and winter rental cabin.- Courtesy of https://www.fs.usda.gov/ Many a paycheck was lost on drinks and card games in Garnet's 13 saloons. Liquor was seen as one of life's necessities. One story that is told is about a miner on his death bed who wished to be buried in sanctified ground, the closest which would be Deer Lodge. A group of men after his death loaded his casket in a wagon and proceeded to Deer Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Lodge through the mountain pass. They made a few drinking stops before and during the trip. When they reached Deer Lodge the casket was missing. Though the men looked they never found the casket and the man never got his final wish... Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Captain James H. Mills In Memoriam Deer Lodge, September 5, (1904)--Honorable James Hamilton Mills died at six o'clock Monday morning, at the age of sixty-seven years...The Funeral will take place from the Presbyterian Church, Tuesday afternoon September 6, at 3:30 o'clock. The Republican County Convention which meets here at noon on Tuesday, will adjourn and attend the service in a body. Lifelong friends from over the entire state are arriving this evening to attend the funeral. Captain Mills was born in New Lisbon, Ohio December 21, 1837. Seven generations preceding him have lived in America. James received his education in Ohio and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and then worked in mercantile and mechanical pursuits until the Civil War. He enlisted on April 27, 1861 at the age of 24 years in Company G, the eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves (Fortieth Pennsylvania Infantry) as a private soldier. With his regiment he participated in twenty seven general engagements of the Army of the Potomac, and for "gallant conduct on the field" he was promoted to corporal, first sergeant, first lieutenant and captain and for "heroic conduct in the Battle of the Wilderness and Bethesda Church" he was commissioned brevet-major and brevet-lieutenant colonel. He was mustered out of service at Pittsburg on June 13, 1864. For a time after his service James engaged in a leather business at Pittsburg and then came west in the spring of 1866. He began mining in Yellowstone where he belonged to a group that opened a hydraulic claim at Emigrant Gulch. After the group gave all of their money to a packer to obtain provisions in Bozeman, and he swindled them out of their wealth, they had to give up the claim. When James arrived in Virginia City he possessed ten cents in postal currency. He was able to immediately obtain an accounting job and when an article he published in an eastern journal came to the attention of D.W. Tilton, James was hired as editor of the Montana Post. Thus he became the third editor of the Post (Professor Dimsdale and Judge Blake preceding him.) Staying in this position until July 1869, the Captain then founded the New Northwest at Deer Lodge, which he was editor and publisher for, until November 1891. James was the first President of the Montana Press Association. He married Miss Ella M. Hammond in 1875 and to this union was born three children: Mary E., Nellie G. and James H. Jr. Captain Mills was a lifelong Republican who attended the constitutional convention of Montana in 1884 and was appointed by President Hayes as Secretary of the Territory. He served one term and declined reappointment. In 1889 James was nominated by the convention to formulate a state constitution but declined, to accept the appointment of collector of internal revenue for the district that included Montana, Idaho and Utah. In this office James served until February 28, 1893 at which time he was appointed commissioner of the state bureau of agriculture, labor and industry. That position he filled until January 1897. In 1895, James had accepted an appointment as receiver of the Northern Pacific Railroad and in 1897 was appointed receiver for The Helena Consolidated Water Company. There James served until February 1 1901. At that time the Captain became Clerk and Recorder for the newly formed Powell County. Fraternal Organizations the Captain was a member of included The Loyal Legion, Grand Army of the Republic (Past Senior Vicecommander), United Workmen (Past Grand Master Workman), and Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Montana (Past Grand Master) (excerpt from The Butte Miner Tuesday September 6, 1904). From the Philipsburg Mail: ...No man could be truer to the higher purposes of statehood than Capt. Mills, in whose heart lay the most loyal sentiments of the commonwealth. He was a tireless worker for the public good, a man of great abilities properly directed to the better ends of life, and he never forgot the exactions of duty in carrying out the responsibilities of public trust... The above information was published in the Montana Historical Society Contributions Volume V, 1904, pages 264-272. -Courtesy of The Granite County History Blog The purpose of the Granite County History Blog (https://granitecountyhistory.blogspot.com/) is to share and seek information on the history of
P a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Granite County, Montana. In a few cases our topics will lap over into adjacent counties as mining districts especially do not respect the later boundaries imposed by politicians! It is a project of members of the Granite County Historical Society, an organization founded in 1978 by the late Barry Engrav of Philipsburg and now comprised of 8 members dedicated to preserving and interpreting historical documents, artifacts, and sites in the greater Philipsburg area. Our goal is to interest current residents, folks with family roots, and those with an academic interest in the area to add their knowledge to this blog as an ongoing project to deepen and in some cases correct the narrative of the people and events that shaped history in this part of Montana. The recent explosion of scanned historical documents onto the internet is making it possible to greatly speed up historical research, refine historical chronology, and deepen historical interpretation. Perhaps we are entering into a "golden age" of research into our past! Anyone with an interest in the Philipsburg area or Montana history is invited to discuss the topics of our posts, as well as their own data and sources, which we hope will create an ongoing dialogue about the area now known as Granite County. Cattle Dog An undated clipping from the 1940s in a Bozeman newspaper tells a poignant story of man’s best friend. Oldtime cattleman Ott McEwen was devastated when the cattle dog who had been at his side through blizzards and summer winds, long days and lonely nights, suddenly disappeared. The dog had been his constant companion, sharing hardships and joys. McEwen grieved for the loss of the best friend he ever had. Four years later at a Stockgrowers meeting, cattlemen had gathered in the Bozeman Hotel’s lobby. Someone noticed a shaggy old dog, limping badly, whining outside the door. The man let him in and watched curiously as the dog wandered from man to man sniffing. Finally the dog dove into the crowd and leapt upon an old geezer. Old Ott McEwen couldn’t believe it. He went down on his knees and on the floor of the lobby, threw his arms around the dog as tears ran down his cheeks. Someone said he had seen the dog weeks before way over in eastern Montana. How did the dog make his way across the mountains, and how did he know his master would be there? Many a gruff cattleman wiped away a tear, and the talk grew gentle among the men, for they understood well the special bond between a cattleman and his dog. -Ellen Baumler From Montana Moments: History on the Go Photo Courtesy of Montana Moments Blog Ellen Baumler is an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. She lives in Helena in a century-old house with her husband, Mark, and its resident spirits. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 932 Anaconda, MT 59711
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